Utah Jazz matches Charlotte Hornets' offer to Gordon Hayward

This decision by the Jazz was far from a surprise. Salt Lake City media had reported from the start of the Hornets’ pursuit of the 6-foot-8 Hayward that Jazz management would match any offer.

This was the most the Hornets could offer restricted free agent Hayward, who would have upgraded the Hornets’ shooting, scoring and ballhandling, particularly with Josh McRoberts leaving for the Miami Heat in free-agency.

The Jazz could have dragged this process out until 11:59 Sunday EDT, since under NBA rules Utah had a 3-day window to consider matching. The Jazz matching Saturday morning at least frees the $14.8 million that was frozen as a salary-cap hold once Hayward signed the offer sheet Thursday.

The Hornets still need a wing scorer/shooter, along with a backup point guard and perhaps another big man. It’s unclear where general manager Rich Cho might now turn.

Comments

Any word on Marvin Williams? A 3/4 who can make some 3's and defend. If we can't get a stud at least get a cheaper, versatile rotation player who plugs the holes we need plugged. Zeller/Vonleh might be ready to start and we need a shooting alternative to MKG. Williams makes sense to me.

Posted by: DeLaQuest | Jul 12, 2014 12:13:49 PM

Zeller/Vonleh might NOT be ready to start, I meant.

Posted by: DeLaQuest | Jul 12, 2014 12:15:07 PM

You have to go w Zeller . He has to have picked up some weight and muscle . If not waive his ass . Lol. No . He's ready . Like a Pau . Put him in the mid block and turn him loose to pass in the interior . It's a blessing . The kid is smart . We know Kemba can't facilitate . Zeller can do the big to big interior passing that's been missing and hit cutting wing players . Then let him dribble drive to get fouls called and to the line . He can hit Mkg when he flashes in the post . Jefferson won't do it . Mkg probably ain't speaking to him anyway for begging his replacement to come . Mkg better take every shot every time he touches the ball like Hairston . Shoot to you drop .
Chos a clown . What a waste of time . Now the wings are pissed , Kemba will ask for the world and any free agents know you offered a non max , not very special player 63 m . Utah has to hate Cho for his idiocy . Hayward would never have lived up to his contract or near it . Cho got saved . I grantee that Stephenson or Deng are not coming unless Cho gets stupid again and offers 6 m more a yr than he should have . Hayward was a 9 m a yr guy , no more . Even then , he was average on defense and was going to continue to struggle here bc there's no pt gd and too much ball hogging out of Jefferson . This is a mess . There's 7 teams better for sure in the East . Maybe 8 if you add the Bucks .

Posted by: Iron man | Jul 12, 2014 12:44:52 PM

Who cares.

Can we please talk about what a total joke Rich Cho is? He's never, not once gotten a draft pick right. How does he still have a job, and why does Rick Bonnell refuse to report on his fact?

The real story here is how bad Vonleh and Hairston were yesterday. The Cho sympathizers will say 'it's only one game'. But it's a sign of more to come.

Fire Cho!!

Posted by: Fred | Jul 12, 2014 1:29:55 PM

What's the next move for the Hornets???

Posted by: Jerry | Jul 12, 2014 1:35:12 PM

I think we should give Vonleh a little more time than 1 summer league game. He is one of the youngest players in the NBA right now.

Posted by: Chris | Jul 12, 2014 1:37:49 PM

So someone is already calling Vonleh and Hairston bad after ONE SUMMER LEAGUE GAME? My goodness. Having stellar summer league games is not what they were drafted for. My toddler has more patience than that.

Posted by: PantherDave | Jul 12, 2014 1:50:02 PM

Anyone who is willing to judge a players career over one summer league game do the world a favor and kill yourself.

Posted by: jason | Jul 12, 2014 2:36:44 PM

Funny after the draft Cho was a basketball god but the guys he drafted had a bad game so its off with his head. STFU.

Posted by: jason | Jul 12, 2014 2:39:08 PM

Summer league has no bearing on how a rookie or 2nd year player does during the NBA season. Go after Stephenson!!!

Posted by: Big J | Jul 12, 2014 2:40:01 PM

Imagine that!!

Posted by: DSHTG!! | Jul 12, 2014 2:54:36 PM

Absolutely not true !!!!! If a players turns summer league out ,there's no assurance he will do the same in season , think Taylor . But if he doesn't dominate in his second yr there , it's likely he will struggle in season . Think Mkg . However , I think Mkg will finnaly turn it out this yr . He's going to get untracked . Half of Henderson and Mkgs problem is they have clogged lanes , few ball screens and think too much ESP about getting it into Jefferson . Just take the ball , lower your head and do a move . Forget about everything else bc they have huge skills .

Cho does not evaluate talent . He got run off the ct when he tried to play pick up , doesn't know bb and never will . I doubt he understands what a pick and roll is . The first game is way too early to evaluate the rookies . But Ewing and Clifford have no clue how to get players off to help them . Zero .

Posted by: Iron man | Jul 12, 2014 2:55:14 PM

Lance Stephenson please!

Posted by: Mark | Jul 12, 2014 2:56:30 PM

Zeller's going to miss two games for a wedding. Gees, is he going on the honeymoon?

Posted by: JayTee | Jul 12, 2014 3:47:56 PM

Atrocious is the other word among embarrassing, brutal and pathetic that describes Hornets' play. Now with Hayward gone and the rest of the FAs picked over, what next? I insist we should have gone hard for Parsons. We could have gotten Morrow with a home team discount and grabbed Deng as well. Shooters like Vince Carter are gone too.Now it looks like we're scrambling to fill out the roster, with Stephenson on the wishlist. So far the loss of Josh has crippled us. Tick tock, tick tock.

Posted by: qdog112 | Jul 12, 2014 3:57:38 PM

Evan Turner
Ed Davis
Ramon Sessions

Fallback Options:

Marvin Williams
Emeka Okafor (if he's healthy)

Posted by: Matt | Jul 12, 2014 4:05:47 PM

Cho has the best job in the NBA.Everything bad that happens is blamed on Jordan and any good results are because of his moves.I wonder why this happens ?

Posted by: Pete | Jul 12, 2014 4:08:38 PM

PantherDave, your toddler has more basketball sense than Iron man and qdog112 combined. We are not writing P.J. and Noah off because of a bad offensive summer league game. The Hornets will be fine. There weren't that many star talent free agents available, so why overpay for less than stellar talent.

Sign Marvin Williams or Jamison. They can help the team get better in the short term. And give the younger players a chance to develop. As long as the Hornets play team ball, they can be competitive. San Antonio proved that point.

Posted by: Chuck | Jul 12, 2014 4:20:29 PM

The fired the guy that was responsible for all those bad drafts. Why else does a guy like Higgins get the boot. Hopefully starting this year they actually start drafting like a real team.

Posted by: Mike T. | Jul 12, 2014 4:41:11 PM

I actually like the idea of Evan Turner. He wouldn't cost as much as Gordon Hayward and the players are almost identical. They were in the same draft, about the same size, can play both the 2 and the 3, same age, and before Turner was shipped to Indiana..they had pretty much identical stats. I believe Turner was at 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists to Haywards 16 points, 5 rebounds , 5 assists. I then say go after Sessions but if you miss out maybe try and go after Augustin. Resign Tolliver as the other PF option.

THE KID IS 20 YEARS OLD going against lebron in the playoffs. you guys are delusional. kid is an absolute stud prospect.

how would anybody really know? you guys future tellers? besides kemba.....they're all still under 22. how about the slightest bit of patience?

vonleh is 18 and he didn't look bad in the game, he missed a bunch of makeable shots - shots he's made before - and he got some lazy stuff blocked. typical rookie stuff. you can't teach a guy to be that big, that young, that athletic and coordinated. dude has great ball skills for a big man. i mean GREAT. i see the bosh comparisons completely.

hairston has had big games in the d-league which is comparable talent level to summer league but with more organization. the battery charge is way more alarming than a bad summer league game. and at 24th pick - he isn't bad value. even if he becomes royce white. risk vs. reward. could be starting 2 guard. could be in prison.

and for the millionth time, the draft picks were far from the problem compared to the development of the draft picks.

anybody know how many rookies have made the all-star team? how many rookies have started on an nba finals team? how many rookies have been finals mvp? what are you guys expecting? they aren't hot pockets.

how great was lamarcus aldridge when he was 19-20? gerald wallace didn't do anything until he was 23, didn't make an all-star team until 27.

steve nash made his first all-star team at 27, didn't start regularly until he was 26.

david lee? 2-time all-star wasn't an all-star until 26. didn't start until 25.

i can keep going with this list, it's endless.

jermaine o'neal anybody? tyson chandler? deandre jordan? roy hibbert? gordon hayward himself is an example. you can't draft an 18 year old and expect them to be ready and you can't not draft the 18 year old that is more talented than the 22 year old.

be patient. let the talent develop.

and yeah.....stephenson should have happened a week ago. he's better than hayward any ways. and i'm sure he'll end up in dallas or chicago or something.

Posted by: charlottean | Jul 12, 2014 5:38:38 PM

No real surprise on Hayward...I think we all knew the Jazz would match. Not really much left in the way of appetizing options left on the table at this point.

Here's an interesting thought, though...quoted from Zach Lowe on Grantland:

"what a blow to (Josh) McRoberts, who committed to the Heat under the notion that LeBron would be in Miami. Players and teams almost never back out of verbal agreements settled during the moratorium, since it sets a precedent of dishonesty that everyone remembers next time around, but you almost wouldn’t blame McRoberts for bolting back to Charlotte. The Hornets would love to have him, and the Heat would open an extra $5.3 million in cap space if the deal falls apart."

Like he says, probably a longshot, but could be an opportunity for the Hornets here. Wonder if the Hornets would re-open discussions with McRoberts if those circumstances really played out?

Posted by: DWS44 | Jul 12, 2014 5:48:58 PM

the heat are still going to be better than the bobcats and still arguably contenders.

wade/bosh/deng/mcroberts/granger is still a heckuva core plus guys like haslem/cole and maybe even birdman. they're much closer to a title than we are and josh is more likely to have a bigger role without lebron than with.

and we're better off developing zeller than giving mcroberts a 4 year commitment.

Posted by: charlottean | Jul 12, 2014 5:51:53 PM

Vonleh can play . He's athletic , has a good stroke , stays in front of pfs and will be fine . If Zeller hasn't bulked up to play defense wo getting pushed around , this kid will take his spot in a yr . Nice duo tho . Hairston must be more deliberate in his play . Too many times , guys went around him w ease . He must focus harder on taking shots which seemed to be tossed up w o enough vigor and sincerity . He needs to get stronger which will take time . Sgs in this league are very tuff covers . He's not going to beat out Taylor in the lineup let alone Henderson . He's good but it will take some time for sure . Neither one got anything easy from the point gds . All Hairstons shots clanged r back iron . He has to Check his angle of his r elbow . He has a good stroke .

Posted by: Iron man | Jul 12, 2014 6:14:55 PM

mcroberts agent just said they're absolutely still signing with miami.

Posted by: charlottean | Jul 12, 2014 6:50:16 PM

Hornets just signed Marvin Williams to a 2 year contract worth $14 million.

Posted by: David I | Jul 12, 2014 7:42:58 PM

1 tarheel out (haywood), 2 tarheels in. only 3 years in franchise history without a tarheel on the roster. several years with 2 or more. apparently not the right tarheels thus far.

Posted by: charlottean | Jul 12, 2014 8:03:26 PM

Vonleh is a bad joke. He really led the Hoosiers to lots of good wins this year huh.

Cho is a bigger joke. He's been run off of two teams. One teams trash is another teams treasure though it seems with this guy. He has more lives than a cat.

Bismarck Bimombo made be the worst pick in the past 10 years, and Cho traded up to get him. Lol. If he's not the worst pick in franchise history it's only bc MKG holds that title. That clown gave up 131 points in 2 games to LeBron and Carmelo last yr. Great job by someone who's only talent supposedly is playing defense!

looks like MKG's fault, doesn't it. after he got hot on other guys, he wasn't missing. they went at jefferson over and over. then tolliver. then henderson. and everybody in between. stop reading the box score and acting like you know what you're talking about genius. MKG defends/blocks a chalmers layup in transition and lebron follows by laying it in. he can't guard EVERYBODY.

MKG held lebron to 5 points in over 25 minutes of man to man in a PLAYOFF game. while scoring 22. at age 20.

nobody stops lebron. nobody stop carmello. if the guy was giving up 50 to corey brewer, i'd be alarmed. if he was giving up 40 points every night, sure. that 61 wasn't on him. a portion of it was, but how many of them were open jumpers with bosh and bird screening him open? it was the ultimate game showing what jefferson does to your team.

MKG isn't even a 4-quarter player! They can't trust him and he's not allowed to go anywhere near the court in the 4th quarter. Why? Because he can't shoot and he can't defend.
He's the ultimate liability. Total bust. Honestly Matt Carrol brought more to this team than MKG. Carrol defended better, could shoot, and didn't take wasting the 2nd OVERALL pick in the draft to acquire. MKG shoots like he has a broken elbow. How did Cho the Magnificent miss this fact before blowing a high draft pick on him??!

At what age doesn't it become unacceptable for the sympathizers to say "but he's only ______ years old, wah wah wah boo hoo". Lol.

Cho must gooooo!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Fred | Jul 14, 2014 12:05:19 AM

Oh and I forgot to include Zeller in the mix for biggest team draft pick Bust ever.

My grandma on roller skates has better coordination than him, lol. His favorite move last year was to run down the court, close his eyes, throw some layup attempt off the backboard without hitting the rim then flop down in the row of camera guys behind the goal.He's gonna be real good! Lol.

Dude is a total train wreck. Another great Cho pick! Does this guy even do research or just use a magic 8 ball to make decisions??